Say no to slots

Robert Nemeth

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 12:11 AM

It’s not too late to nip in the bud the latest attempt to bring big-time gambling to Worcester. It should be done without delay and in no uncertain terms.

On March 13, Worcester was designated as the preferred site of a slot machine casino by Mass Gaming Entertainment LLC, a Chicago-based subsidiary of Rush Gaming. While the company has not yet submitted a detailed proposal to the city manager, it is time to consider the potential effects of the slots industry on the city.

Slot machines entered the picture in 2007 when Democrats on Beacon Hill passed a bill that paved the way for three casinos and a slot machine resort. Like lemmings blindly running toward the abyss, the lawmakers rushed to embrace a casino economy as the solution to the state’s economic woes.

Investors, developers, gambling operators and lobbyists followed suit, which is not surprising because they are the only ones to benefit. The only thing that has slowed the process so far is the cumbersome bureaucracy that requires a hapless gaming commission to regulate the process.

The capitulation to big-time gambling is shameful on many accounts. While it is pointless to argue morality these days, there is something fundamentally wrong with government capitalizing on the frailty of its citizens through encouraging a something-for-nothing lifestyle rather than promoting a solid work ethic.

Gambling is the most predatory industry in America. It uses sophisticated technology and market strategies to profit from the financial losses of its citizens. It banks on human weakness and breeds corruption. The full extent of the harm caused by government-promoted gambling probably won’t be known until the first round of criminal indictments unfolds. It will happen, you can bet on it.

The proposed slot machine operation in Worcester is particularly concerning because of its location and the kind of equipment it involves. The site is the former Wyman-Gordon property along Madison Street, walking distance to downtown, the library, YWCA and several colleges, and it involves the latest electronic high-speed slot machines.

A developer, Richard L. Friedman, told the Telegram & Gazette last December that he was “actively working” on such a proposal as part of a $200 million plan for a “world class” hotel and other uses near the downtown CitySquare development. Mr. Friedman noted that the Wyman-Gordon property is under consideration for gaming use by one or more highly qualified gaming companies.

In a recent report, The Research Bureau highlighted the particular dangers associated with the newest form of electronic slot machines, which had been the topic of a book by MIT professor Natasha Dow Schüll, “Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas.” It tells about the transformation of the slot machines, which no longer require the player to pull a lever, but merely entail pushing a button. It enables much faster play, as many as 1,200 games per hour.

The machines are cleverly designed to generate a “winning feeling” on the part of the player even when he/she has lost. The new slots accept debit and credit cards. The end result of these technological enhancements is to make the slot machine far more addictive than in the past. They are designed to produce the visual illusion of “frequent near misses,” and make periodic “small payouts” intended to extend the gamblers TOD — time on device — and thus increase overall losses.

The government of Hungary recently outlawed these new slot machines, maintaining that “tens of thousands of Hungarian families had been ruined” by them. Experts estimate that there are some 100,000 gambling addicts in Hungary, a country of 10 million people, with another 500,000 at risk of developing an acute gambling habit. Several provinces in Canada also outlawed the machine, pointing out individuals who play become addicted three to four times more rapidly than other gamblers.

The impact of gambling addiction for a local community can be measured in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the nation. That city has the highest number of suicides in the country, a significant number of which are local residents. Las Vegas also scores exceptionally high on rates of poverty, crime, bankruptcy, automobile accidents, child abuse and addictions of all manners. Atlantic City has suffered similar problems. Crime rates increased by 300 percent between 1977 and 1981, the years immediately following the legalization of casino gambling, and much of the town remains repressed and crime-ridden.

A recent Telegram & Gazette article told the story of Deborah Greenslit of Rutland, a psychotherapist and marathon runner with four graduate degrees, who in her upcoming book recounts how, after winning a $752,000 jackpot playing penny slot machines at Mohegan Sun, she found herself “hooked.” She soon lost her winnings, but found herself sitting for hours at the machines finding it “hard to pull away.” She was eventually able to overcome her addiction, but others are not that strong or fortunate.

Worcester residents and public officials should ask themselves whether casino gambling is compatible with the city’s vision of itself and its desired future as a place with a well-earned reputation for quality education, wholesome health care, advanced biomedical research, and as an overall good place to raise families. The answer to that question will be a resounding no.

Robert Z. Nemeth’s column appears regularly in the Sunday Telegram.

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